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The Think Tank: What goals do you have in your current MMOs?

If there's one thing our modern games do well, it's organize goals. We went from simple shoot-'em-ups and hack-'n'-slashes to micro-managing with leaderboards and tiered quest logs. This organization allows us to set finite goals and make the games all about achieving those goals.

I asked the Massively staff members about their own goals they've set for themselves in the MMOs they play. Who's organized and who's scatterbrained? Read on past the cut to find out.

My long-term goals are pretty scattered. I've been working on my Legendary weapon in Guild Wars 2, The Minstrel (yeah, I know, I know -- I like it, sue me), but it's coming along slowly because I keep finding shiny things to spend a lot of money on. Someday I'll buckle down and work on Mjölnir for my guardian, but it requires so many charged lodestones that it's more expensive than the Legendary at this point.

I tend to think of my MMO goals as more of account goals than character goals, which isn't realistic in games that favor one-character play. Usually I have a big chart that lists all of my characters (and my husband's characters) to keep track of all of them, that way we don't overlap too much -- we like to split up classes and crafting so we have at least one of everything between us. I'd say Guild Wars 2 is my main MMO at the moment; my immediate goals are to finish decking out my Sylvari Warrior in a full complement of pretty weapon skins, to keep working on her map completion, to keep leveling my alts (especially my Engineer), and to finish off my primary crafting skills in prep for the crafting changes.

My current goal is learn how to become a pirate. That's right... a pirate. I just started my first EVE Online adventure, and it feels like a super heavy learning curve. Pirate is the goal and I won't stop till I get there! The plan is to read as much as I can about required skills and items I need and then do some of my own experimentation.

My main goal in most of my MMOs is staying on top of the curve -- the latest patches, level cap, and expansions. I am still struggling to get my Cleric to 60 in RIFT while my Captain in Lord of the Rings Online is pretty much done with eastern Rohan and waiting for Helm's Deep. I have a lot to do to get back into Star Wars: The Old Republic, although I'm not sure if I want to continue with my Operative or go back to my baby Bounty Hunter. I'd love to get HK-51, however.

Right now, my goals in the MMOs I'm playing are pretty basic. In The Secret World, I want to finally trudge my way through Egypt so I can get it over and done with and never set foot in that hellish desert ever again. Meanwhile in World of Warcraft, I'm aiming to pull together a group to run challenge mode dungeons because I want the nifty armor set you get for achieving gold on all of them. And finally, I've decided to return to RIFT because its player housing is amazing and I'm in an interior decorator kind of mood, so I'll be working on finally getting to max level so I can make some moneys and pimp my crib.

The closest thing I have to a main MMO right now is Dota 2. I have small, immediate goals and broad, long-term goals. In the short-term, I just want to learn more about the basics of the game and more about each of the hundred or so heroes Valve has provided. In the long-term, I'm hoping to build a stronger grasp of the nitty-gritty details like phase strategies, itemization, effective character counters, and all the other stuff that makes MOBAs so challenging. And through it all I hope to improve my raw clicky skills so I'm a bigger asset to my team with better farm, better control, and better decision-making.

I have a long-term goal that involves completing a number of housing decorating projects in EverQuest II -- and now I feel seriously under the gun because if I don't finish them all before EverQuest Next Landmark comes along, they might just never get done! In The Secret World, my goal is to get the flamethrower, but I feel I need a bit more power before heading to Transylvania to do that mission storyline.

I have a few long-term goals for my Guild Wars 2 character. Eventually, I'd like to reach 9000 achievement points so I can unlock the hellfire helmet skin because I want to look like demon wreathed in flames! I'm also still working on gathering the materials for a legendary weapon. It's mostly been a passive endeavor because, like most players, I lack the precursor weapon needed to craft one. Hopefully, ArenaNet puts in the alternate methods of acquiring these rare weapons sometime soon!

I do have goals! I do! In Star Trek Online I'll be getting my main to finish up her Romulan reputation and then I will be concentrating on getting my Reman to Admiral. After that I'll be switching to my Romulan, who is affiliated with the Klingon faction! In Lord of the Rings Online I have rolled a new Minstrel, and I have to say, it's a lot more fun than I had anticipated. If I have any goals with him, it's mainly to learn how to heal and work within a team in that function.

What do you get when you throw the Massively writers' opinions together in one big pot to stew? You get The Think Tank, a column dedicated to ruminating on the MMO genre. We range from hardcore PvPers to sandbox lovers to the carest of the carebears, so expect some disagreement! Join Senior Editor Shawn Schuster and the team for a new edition right here every other Thursday.